Androgen is a generic term for any natural or synthetic compound (often a steroid hormone). Androgens stimulate or control the development and maintenance of male characteristics in vertebrates by binding to androgen receptors. This includes the activity of the accessory male sex organs and development of male secondary sex characteristics. Androgens are also the original anabolic steroids and the precursor of estrogens, the female sex hormones. The androgens include dihydrotestosterone testosterone, androstenedione, androstenediol, and dehydroepiandrosterone.
Certain disorders or disease conditions are exacerbated by the presence of androgens. One such example is a hormone-sensitive or hormone-dependent cancer. A hormone-sensitive or hormone-dependent cancer is one where the proliferation of tumor cells depends on the presence of a hormone or its activity. Non-limiting examples of hormone-dependent cancers include cancers of the breast, endometrium, prostate, ovary, testis, thyroid and bone. Other examples of a hormone-sensitive or hormone-dependent disorder include, without limitation, a non-cancerous cell proliferation disorder like a uterine fibroid, a fibrocystic breast disease, an ovarian cyst, and prostate enlargement; abnormal uterine bleeding, amenorrhoea, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), endometriosis, adenomyosis, and alopecia.
Hormone depletion therapy is the current treatment option available to people diagnosed with certain hormone-sensitive or hormone-dependent disorders, such as, e.g. a hormone-dependent cancer. The basic of this therapy is that growth of a cancer can be reduced or halted by starving tumor cells of a hormone inducing cell proliferation. Typically, this is achieved by reducing the overall systemic levels of a hormone, by preventing the endogenous hormone from interacting with its cognate receptor, or both. Although effective at first, most hormone dependent cancers become refractory after one to three years and resume growth despite continued hormone depletion therapy. Once a hormone-sensitive or hormone-dependent disorder becomes hormone refractory, the treatment options available to a patient are limited.
Thus, there is a still exists a need for the development of pharmaceutical compositions and/or therapeutic compounds effective at treating a disorder associated with androgen production.